(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for processing a silver halide color photographic material and a color photographic developer composition used in the method, and more particularly to a method for processing a silver halide color photographic material in which the stability and color forming property of a color photographic developer are improved, and the increased fogging problem in continuous processing is lessened; and a color developer composition which can afford the color developer.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Color photographic developers (hereinafter referred to as color developers) using aromatic primary amine color developing agents have long been conventionally used in the color image forming process and now play a major role in the color photographic image forming process. However it is well known that the conventional color developers are liable to be easily oxidized in the presence of air or metals, and that if the developers thus changed with time are used to form a color image, fogging increases, and there are sensitivity or gradation changes such that the photographic characteristics become different from those desired.
Therefore, measures to improve the preservability of various color developers have been hitherto studied, and among others, the use of a combination of a hydroxyl amine and a sulfite ion is the most common general practice. However, when hydroxyl amine decomposes, ammonia is released, which causes fogging, and the sulfite ion acts as a competing compound to the developing agents, for example, to impede disadvantageously the color forming property, so that it cannot be said that both constitute preferable preservatives.
Hitherto, to improve the stability of color developers, various preservatives and chelating agents have been studied. For example, as preservatives, there can be mentioned aromatic polyhydroxy compounds described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 49828/1977, 160142/1984 and 47038/1981 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,544, hydroxylcarbonyl compounds described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,503 and British Pat. No. 1,306,176, .alpha.-aminocarbonyl compounds described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 143020/1972 and 89425/1978, alkanolamines described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 3532/1979, and metal salts described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 44148/1982 and 53749/1982. As chelating agents, there can be mentioned aminopolycarboxylic acids described in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 30496/1973 and 30232/1969, organic phosphonic acids described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 97347/1981, Japanese Patent Publication No. 39359/1981, and West German Pat. No. 2,227,639, phosphonocarboxylic acids described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 102726/1977, 42730/1978, 121127/1979, 126241/1980 and 65956/1980 and compounds described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 195845/1983 and 203440/1983, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 40900/1978.
However, even if these prior techniques with their advantages are used, preservative performance is still inadequate or photographic characteristics remain adversely affected, so that fully satisfactory results have yet to be achieved.
In particular, in color developers free of benzyl alcohol which causes many problems regarding public hazards and the preparation of the solutions, the color forming properties are unavoidably deteriorated, and the above prior techniques are not satisfactory in many cases since preservatives acting as a competing compounds significantly impair the color forming properties.
In the case of color photographic materials containing a silver chlorobromide emulsion with a large amount of chlorine, fogging is liable to occur during color development as described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 95345/1983 and 232342/1984. When such an emulsion is used, it is essential to use a preservative that is less compatible with the emulsion and has better preservability, and as such the development of new developers is desirable.